Incarnation Ceremony
The Incarnation Ceremony (肉体化の儀式) is a ritual occultation that occurs once in a millennium to give one from the "heavenly spheres" a fully corporeal body. As it requires a mass sacrifice like the Eclipse, the Incarnation Ceremony is an instrumental plot device to bring back Griffith in the climatic conclusion to the Conviction Arc. Story Having been the site of numerous atrocities for ages, the Tower of Conviction and the city of Albion have gradually gained an increase of restless spirits that have died of numerous causes from unjust deaths to starvation and disease. Two years after the Eclipse, the God Hand converted a deformed wretch in the city who desired a new world. This being, calling himself the Egg of the Perfect World, began to orchestrate various events in the city in preparation for the Incarnation Ceremony. Through the means of causality, the preparations were met when Luca brought Casca into the city with Guts following soon after. The presence of both with a Brand of Sacrifice created an Interstice around the area to enable the dead to manifest and act on their personal desire. When Casca is captured and taken into the Tower of Conviction, her presence in its walls awakens the spirits of those who have suffered antagonizing and unjust deaths under the Holy See. These spirits take residence in a blob made of human blood which consumes all within reach with the exception of Casca, as she is protected by the Demon Child using its energy to protect her. During that time, Mozgus and his men end up being turned into Pseudo-Apostles by the Egg of the New World with the inquisitor attempting to burn Casca at the stake on the notion that her death will cease the spirits' attack. In the fight that ensued, the tower was partially damaged and crumbled into the shape of a giant hand. At the same time, outside Albion's wall, living mounds of corpses approach the city with some spirits flying ahead to possess refugees and using their hosts to slaughter everyone in the slums. The fires in the surrounding camps formed a giant Brand of Sacrifice. The Holy Iron Chain Knights fend off the possessed people while Mozgus uses his flames to create a barrier to keep the corpse mounds from advancing further. But it ended up being temporary as the fire eventually dies out and the corpse mounds soon converge on the refugees as Mozgus is killed; his burning body enabling those surrounding him to be spared. Though a group of lucid refugees managed to get into the city and lock the gate, the corpses breach it and soon flood in. Eventually, once having consumed enough humans, the spirits all converge on the tower and form an outer layer that reminds Guts of Griffith's induction into the God Hand during the Eclipse. By that time, having swallowed the body of Guts and Casca's dying demon child before reaching the "palm" of the tower, the Egg of the Perfect World conducts the final phase where the child's body becomes a vessel for Griffith before "hatching" from the Apostle's dying body. In the end, only Guts and a handful of people survived the night-long ordeal. Notes * In Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shō, the Incarnation Ceremony does not happen, and is combined with the Eclipse, in which Griffith sacrifices the Band of the Falcon to have his broken body reconstructed. This is likely to make the plot more concise, as the plot of the game starts after Guts rescues Casca. Category:Events Category:Concepts